Ball joint wedge bolts

[Jim Richards]

I was trying to reassemble the front suspension and ran into a snag with the wedge bolts that hold the ball joints to the struts. I purchased new wedge bolts from Pelican Parts and tried to install them, but couldn't get them as far as the original ones that I removed. The original bolts went in far enough that the unthreaded end was flush with the side of the strut's base. The PP wedge bolts stick out about 3/16". I spent a lot of time trying to line everything up, I tried to drive the bolt in further with a hammer (just flared the end ), and I tried to pull it in by tighening the nut on the other, threaded end (broke one wedge bolt ).

So, I was starting to think I must be some kind'a brain donor, when I decided to look at the original bolt alongside the one from PP. The tapered surface extends further on the original bolt, approx 3/16". What the heck? See pic - compare "a" and "b" and they are significantly different - "b" is the original wedge bolt. I think this might be the reason fitting the PP wedge bolt was such a b!tch.

One of the local guys I talked to said that when he did worked on his front suspension, he left the unthreaded end of the bolt stick out a little bit, and just made sure the nut was torqued properly. I may do the same thing, after ordering a replacement bolt for the one I destroyed. I wonder if I would be better off buying factory parts in this particular case.

[surflvr911sc]

I had the same problem when I did mine. 101 Project said to tighten until it's almost flush so I tightened the nut until it broke. Bummer. The new wedge bolt work fine, you just need to torque them to specs (16 ft-lbs according to Bentley's) and don't worry if they are sticking out a little as long as they are properly aligned.

[Doug E]

JIm - remember that night in my garage when you and Marc were pounding on my wedge bolts with a sledgehammer ???? Sounds like the same situation you encountered as my bolts also came from Pelican.

I made sure there was some thread in the nut and that they were torqued to spec. So far after more then 60 days of driving everything is still OK.

BTW, when DIM was doing my alignment they wanted to change the bolts out b/c they said we didn't get them in all the way. I bought another set of bolts from them just in case any complained during a tech inspection but I don't plan on swapping them unless I have to.

[Wayne 962]

Hmm, these are OEM parts - so they must have been superceded to a later design...

-Wayne

[Jim Richards]

Wayne, IMO the later design is not too good, given that at least 3/16" sticks out. I can imagine that inside the base of the strut the angle that the wedge bolt is chamfered to might result in less contact surface holding the ball joint in place.

And if they have to stick out, I hope it doesn't bite me on a DE tech inspection.